Boston: Kennedy found a brotherhood among firefighters

[sheshe2]

Michael Kennedy mentored Alex with Big Brothers, Big Sisters.

A few years ago, when he first ran the Boston Marathon, Michael R. Kennedy drew a heart on his calf. Above it, he inscribed the initials of his girlfriend, Sarah Wessmann.

A Boston firefighter, he competed in marathons at home and in Chicago, even though his muscular physique suggested that shorter distances were a better fit, particularly as he headed out from Hopkinton that morning.


“He ran 26 miles with shin splints, and I don’t know how he did it,” recalled his father, Paul Kennedy of Holbrook. “I said to Mike, ‘We’re not racehorses; we’re plow horses, that’s our build.’ He said: ‘Dad, you go through the pain. The pain is what it is, and you run through it.’ ”

Seemingly impervious to concerns about his safety or suffering, Firefighter Kennedy ran from the Back Bay firehouse down Boylston Street last year toward the bomb blasts at the Boston Marathon. Last Wednesday, he ran into a burning Back Bay building and died at 33, fighting a final fire.


In years past, he was a Marine sergeant, a combat veteran of war in Iraq. He jumped out of planes while skydiving. He rode with the American Infidels veterans’ motorcycle club. He joined the Fire Department and was assigned to Ladder 2 in East Boston before settling in at the Back Bay firehouse and Ladder 15.

More: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/04/01/adrenaline-junkie-boston-firefighter-michael-kennedy-pushed-limits-while-helping-others/kC1mYHVgM2q5twnChBynnL/story.html

[Cha]

1. So sad.. thank you, she. What a heart and a loss to humanity.

RIP Michael Kennedy~

[sheshe2]

2. ‘Dad, you go through the pain. The pain is what it is, and you run through it.’ ”

Thank you Cha.

To the fallen~

[ucrdem]

3. “Michael never met a high school he couldn’t be expelled from,”

his mother said, chuckling. “I’m not kidding.”

I knew a guy like that. I've known several. Bittersweet story, thanks sheshe.